Moneyball stands as one of the most famous sports movies of all time, and it’s easy to see why. Anyone can get invested in a long-irrelevant team building a roster of undervalued players and going on a Cinderella run. Esports fans love a moneyball roster, and this NAL has stage found its newest one: Cloud9

No longer a fluke

Cloud9 opened the NAL super-week by blowing past 100 Thieves, Five Fears, and Outlast, but the questions didn’t go away. This was a team that missed playoffs in both Kickoff and Stage 1, so was week one the real deal or just a good week? Week two answered that. An upset over reigning major champions DarkZero locking in their playoff spot and kept them in first place.

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Next was a convincing win over ForFun, powered by a huge game from Panba, kept the streak alive. Two weeks in, Cloud9 has made it clear they’re not a fluke, and they’re here to compete.

Panba party time

The party is back and better than ever as Panba seems to have found a new prime version of himself even after previously winning a Major MVP. At the end of the Charlotte Major he ended with a 1.14 event rating, but at the moment in the Nal he’s sitting at a 1.29. It seems he’s found his groove in this meta while also stepping into an IGL role. From his interviews this stage, it seems he not only has a great vision for the team but has found a voice for himself too.

Bet on em young

I’ve been following both Ewzy and Monk since their T2 and T3 days. Ewzy spent a while grinding through T3, playing for teams like Slime Belief, before winning the Spoit tournament alongside ex-Si champion Geo. Monk’s T2 debut came less than a year ago with Element Six, playing next to Raid (a familiar name to many of you).

This duo might just be the underdog story of the year. From being in t2 to now sitting in the top 5 rated players in NAL, Ewzy is at the top with a 1.43 rating with Monk joining him in the top 5 with a 1.24. Ewzy is topping the league in +/- kills with +27, and Monk is leading the league in opening kills, going 12-2. The system change Cloud9 made didn’t just let these two players flourish; it also let them create opportunities off kills individually while doing it.

World Ranking Update

With their 5-0 record in the NAL, Cloud9 has now shot up to the top 20 in the World Rankings. They now sit in 16th, behind G2, after sitting at 43rd previously.

Bright future

A roster that gives echoes of the major winning Beastcoast roster. Cloud9 has once again built a team of misfits, all trying to prove themselves at different stages of their careers. You’ve got young guns Monk and Ewzy looking to make a name for themselves, Eddy and Panbazou showing why they still belong at a T1 level, and Centir stepping up into a supportive role while doing the dirty work. When you really start to think, it all makes sense why this team fits so well together. As the group stage winds down, the real question becomes how well this translates to the playoffs?